Denying Calderón's Role

Declaring that the era of the political use of criminal justice is in the past, Alejandro Poiré said that Calderón had nothing to do with the decision to arrest Hank, which may be true, but the fact that he feels the need to point that out doesn't speak well of the timing, and shows how deep the suspicion of his motives is. The fact that one of the nation's most prominent columnists predicted just such a move a couple of weeks ago doesn't help.

It's also worth noting that Calderón (or whoever) would have to be foolishly optimistic to think that this arrest will have much of an impact in Mexico State. The election is four weeks away, and there is a 30-point margin. Furthermore, the links between Tijuana's Hank and Mexico State's Ávila are by no means self-evident, and most voters probably don't remember the history of Carlos Hank and the Grupo Atlacomulco. Hank may reduce the support for Ávila by a very small margin, but there's virtually no way Ávila will lose as a result of this.